Smoky Memories
by SpaceRoses
Summary: Logan has left the mansion to finish some things up north, leaving Ororo alone. The longer he is gone the more she doubts his promise to come back but she still has the memories to hold onto. [Post X3 StormxLogan pairing]


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. It all belongs to the Marvel comic book people and the utter geniuses behind the movies.

**Author's Note: **I saw X3 a while back and I was watching the extra features, including the deleted scenes. One thing struck me though; in the alternate Logan ending they have him back at that bar in Canada where Rogue first met him in X1. I was thinking, "Why would he go back there of all places?" However, both the original ending and the alternate ending were interesting so I decided to combine them. Hence, he goes up north to wrap up some lose ends and then he heads back to New York and his friends. (And Ororo coughcoughcough). Also, I am moving some characters around like dear Kurt. This is based on some other stories that my sister Starshipdelta is writing. (Check out her work, it's awesome…'specially her X-Men piece) Therefore, I give you my first X-Men story and a Logan/Storm one to boot. Can't help it…they are a cute pairing. Inspired by "Last Cigarette" by Bon Jovi, particularly verse two. Reviews inspire exhausted High School students but Flames will be used to barbeque the Thanksgiving Turkey. Please…think of the turkeys and review. Thanks!

**Smoky Memories**

The scent was so…so uniquely him. She had always hated the smell of cigars, that strong almost sickening smoke. Professor Xaiver had always shared her opinion of smoking, a fact that he had often let Logan know…at least if he was smoking in Cerebro.

However, even when he didn't have the cigar between his teeth the smell of it had managed to soak into everything he owned…everything. You could tell he had been in a room because if you breathed in deep enough you could catch the last lingering tastes of smoke on your tongue. It had began to become a stabilizing factor in her life, as long as she could smell the cigar he was still there, somewhere in the mansion.

But now it was fading…like her memories of him. The man had been gone for almost two months now and that was too long to keep convincing herself that he was coming back. She had enough to deal with now, just trying to keep the school alive, that she didn't have time to worry about Logan disappearing…again.

Hank helped however he could but he had his own political duties in Washington, duties that often kept him busy for weeks and even months at a time. Rogue and Bobby and the others helped as they could, with Peter being the most help as he had already graduated but she needed another adult around. Someone who was older…someone with whom she could talk to on an adult level. The children where fine to talk to but there were many things that they wouldn't understand but an adult would. An adult like Logan for example.

Ororo Munroe sat in the darkened kitchen staring out of the large windows into the back yard, which Kurt had kept immaculate since he had assumed the duties of the groundskeeper on their return from Alkali Lake the first time. It was the least he could do, he said, to help these people who had given him a home with others like himself.

The mansion was silent, a welcome change from the almost constant noise that filled it during the day. All of the children were asleep and she was the only one who was up though she probably should have been asleep too. As the main teacher and principal of the school she had duties that she couldn't ignore.

Sometimes she wondered if she was doing a good enough job. Things had been easier when Scott, Jean and the Professor had been alive. Just thinking about her dead friends made her want to lock herself in her room and not come out sometimes. Therefore she didn't think on them much.

She didn't think on Logan much either, or at least she tried not too. She had been counting on his help in rebuilding the school and she was so sure that he'd stay. Where else did he have to go? Surely he would have stayed with all of the friends he had made here, Rogue and Bobby and the others. With her.

He had told her he needed to go up north and take care of a few things, he didn't say what they where but he promised to come back. And then, like any other wild animal, he was gone. At first she had trusted his promise but as the days wore into weeks and months she began to doubt it. As the bills piled up and the children started to get into the grind of school and the un-graded papers sat on Xavier's - her - desk she began to lose faith in Logan to ever show up again. Rogue believed he'd come back but Ororo wasn't so sure. Not anymore.

Real life had began to over run her dying fantasies and she had finally started to accept that most men weren't knights in shining armor who'd always stay with their ladies fair. Most men where like Logan, they'd come, they'd go and you couldn't tame them, couldn't control them.

Logan was as unpredictable as the storms she controlled. She could control them for a time but she really couldn't tell them what to do all of the time. Maybe that was why she loved Logan so much. She couldn't control him.

Running a hand though her short streaked hair she took a sip of her tea and winced at the cool bitterness of it. She knew she would regret sitting up all night again but she couldn't help it. Sleep had been eluding her and she didn't have the energy to keep up the chase. It was better to just surrender it and sit in the kitchen drinking cold tea and inhaling the scent of cigars.

She could hear a clock ticking on the other side of the room but she ignored it. Time meant nothing to her; she kept track of the time by the changes in the light outside. Once dawn came she knew that her silent vigil could end. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for, at least not at first but the more she thought about it the more sure she became. She was waiting for Logan to walk back into the mansion and with each new dawn it marked one more day that her pointless vigil had been un-rewarded.

Ignoring the cold cup of tea she continued to stare out of the window trying not to think of anything at all. Just keep breathing, keep inhaling the familiar, and now comforting, scent. Don't think about the past or you'll drive yourself insane.

The sound of an engine coming up the mansion's long drive caught her ear and she half turned towards the door, a mixture of hope and fear starting to bubble inside of her. Hope that Logan had come home again and fear that it wasn't him at all but some crazed Anti-Mutants protester who was convinced that he could score a blow against the mutants by taking on a school of children.

Slipping softly from her chair she padded through the halls silently, listening as the engine died and footsteps started coming towards the front door. She reached the front door and paused, her hand a few feet from the knob. The tread sounded like his but she couldn't be sure anymore.

From outside the doorknob was grabbed but it wouldn't give followed by some muttering that was too low for her to make out. The door was locked naturally and she could hear the footsteps now moving away from the front door, back down the gravel path and each one rang painfully in her ears.

Acting on a sudden impulse she unlocked the door and opened it just enough for her to slip through. "Logan?" she whispered, knowing that he'd hear her.

The man at the end of the path stopped and for a moment Ororo almost thought that Logan was going to keep going again but he turned around at the sound of his name.

She closed the door partially behind her and stepped further away from the shadows, "Logan…?" she questioned again, almost afraid that this was some delusion brought on by lack of sleep.

However this wasn't some dream. Logan started walking towards her again, "Yeah?" he asked, his low voice still almost too loud for the silence that surrounded them. "Who do you think it is?"

She suddenly stopped unsure of her answer. Was she supposed to tell him that she thought he was some vision brought about by lack of sleep? In the back of her mind she half expected Kurt or Peter to show up behind her, asking what she was doing standing on the porch in the middle of the night talking to the rose bushes.

Still she couldn't help herself. "I…I don't know…" she admitted, feeling far from herself. "I just thought that since you'd been gone for so long…that you were staying up north." There. She had finally voiced the fear that had been nagging at the back of her mind ever since he had left.

By this time he had closed the distance between them and he stood close enough to her that if she wanted to she could have enveloped him in a hug without having to move. She could feel him just close enough for her to touch but still just out of reach, still almost a bit wary. His voice wasn't wary though at all, he sounded relived. "I told you I'd come back didn't I?"

Another question. This time she didn't even bother to think of an answer for him. Instead she finally closed that distance between them, wrapping both her arms around him. Resting her head on his shoulder she smiled, breathing in the warm and familiar scent of sweat, fresh air and cigars. "Welcome home Logan." She whispered, so low that only he could hear her.

_Fin._


End file.
